One of the largest animals in the world, the popular elephant, is a constant target of illegal hunting on the African continent. This sad fact motivates several environmental activists in the fight for the preservation of this unique species. Furthermore, this fight for preservation has just gained yet another reason, as it has been discovered that the extinction of elephants can impact the heating global. Know more.
How Elephants Help the Environment
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The study in question was conducted by professor of biology Stephen Blake, from the University of Saint Louis, in France. In a recent article published in the journal scientific Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), he breaks down the importance of elephants to the ecosystem and the impact of possible extinction.
In this case, Blake explains that there is an influence of elephants in the control and retention of carbon in African forests. For this, the study included the analysis of more than 200,000 records of elephants across the African continent. In this way, it was possible to discover that elephants act as gardeners of forests.
This is because elephants have a food preference for light wood trees, which have a lower carbon retention capacity. By consuming these trees, elephants provide more space and resources for heavy wood trees, responsible for absorbing more carbon.
The impact of a possible extinction of elephants
From these conclusions, Blake discusses how a possible extinction of elephants could impact global warming. After all, without these animals, there would be greater competition between light and heavy wood trees for space and resources. In this competition, the lighter wood trees would win, as they grow faster.
However, as already mentioned, these are trees with little carbon absorption power, so there would be a reduction in absorption. According to the article, this would result in a reduction of 6% to 9% in the carbon absorption capacity of African forests. As a result, we could have a significant impact on global warming.